L.A.’s OUTBACK: Can freshman Councilman Richard Alarcon,...

L.A.’s OUTBACK: Can freshman Councilman Richard Alarcon, with a head full of new ideas, revive the northeastern San Fernando Valley--L.A.’s outback, which for years has been neglected or dumped on? Probably not, community leaders say. . . . But they expect at least some improvements from the energy Alarcon is putting into stagnant economic programs (B1).

TAKE MY DOC--PLEASE: A new era may be dawning for the Motion Picture and Television Fund, the show biz charity that runs the retirement home and hospital in Woodland Hills. Looking to the onrushing future of health care in America, the fund is trying to establish itself as the health insurer of choice for entertainment workers, with a network of doctors, clinics and hospitals (D1). A catch: The Clintons’ proposed legislation doesn’t allow plans limited to specific industries. Possible solution: Congress can change that.

YULE DELAY: OK, it’s a cliche, but there were lots of them out there: last-minute Christmas shoppers and errand-runners (B1), buying gifts and hams, getting hurried haircuts, cramming all the undone pre-Yule chores into the dwindling hours before Christmas Eve. A Ventura Boulevard Santa (above) offers bargains for the procrastinating set.

HIGHER PRIORITIES: There are things that take priority over dog-eat-dog airline competition, such as a little girl’s tears on Christmas Eve. A divorced father brought his small daughter to the Reno Air counter at Burbank Airport to be dispatched to her mother in Portland for the holiday. Bad news: Because the plane had a layover in San Jose, the girl could not fly without an adult escort. “She burst into tears,” said ticket agent Jeanne Carpenter, “because Santa would not know where she was. And she wanted to be with her mother.” Solution: The Reno agents found her a seat on a nonstop flight--on rival Alaska Airlines. “We just wanted her to go,” said Reno agent Yadira Castaneda.